Which Clipper Would Be Your Wingman?

My wife brought up who she'd most like to have over for dinner, and I thought it might make for interesting discussion... it's also a perfect excuse to use David's new list system!

Just for sh!ts and giggles, if the current Clippers were your crew, who would you be closest to? ...who would you trust the most? Who do you like/respect the most? Who would you want to have your back in a bad situation?

Based on what you know about the guys from meeting them, seeing them live, seeing them on TV or reading interviews...which guy is most like your best buddy? ...or which guy would you like your best buddy to be like? Disregard talent, performance or tenure... this is about character OFF the court. I think it might tell us a lot about CTB posters' own characters. It's purely subjective and there are no right or wrong answers, but here's my rankings, and why...

Jamal Crawford: Family man. Humble. Loyal to coaches, teammates and his city. Pays a lot of attention to his fans. Just a solid guy.

Chris Paul: Again, family man. Loyal, serious and ambitious... but modest. No quit in him.

Matt Barnes: FIERCELY loyal. A hothead, but YOUR hothead.

Danny Granger: A lot to be said for a guy who was a superstar but still keeps his cool as a roleplayer.

Willie Green: Comfortable with who he is. Professionalism personified. Feels blessed by life.

Jared Dudley: Humble. Smarter than his demeanor would have you believe. Never blames anybody but himself for his failures.

Darren Collison: Talent-ego ratio is off the charts. Hard worker, doesn't crave attention, does his job without a fuss.

Ryan Hollins: Clumsy, but has good intentions. Seems like he's genuinely happy to be wherever he's at and with whoever he's with.

DeAndre Jordan: Goofy, but goofy is fun. A good heart, but might falter when real "heart" is required. Blinded by the paparazzi's bulbs.

Glen Davis: Baby says all the right things, but I'm not necessarily buying. Still... running upcourt with concussion is pretty badass. What buddy wouldn't want that?

Blake Griffin: Too cool for school. As much as I respect Blake's work ethic, he can be kind of a d!ck. The #1 guy ignoring fans isn't cool.

Reggie Bullock: To be fair, hard to judge him... but his tweets are a little pretentious and pious for a guy who's proven precisely nothing.

Hedo Turkoglu: My view - Seems to have no personality whatsoever. If he were over for dinner, he'd be as interesting as my fork.

JJ Redick: He could hit the buzzer beater in game-7 and I still wouldn't warm to him personally. I dig his talent, but I just can't "like" him. Sorry, frat-boy.

Interested to hear you guys' thoughts and honorable mentions for former Clippers (Ekker-Kaman )

Edit: David, those numbers and boxes for the list feature are pretty huge... just say'n.

CP3Heliflopter

04/05/2014 - 08:10 PM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 6403

votes: 10

Is Blake Griffin really that bad when it comes to fans? I don't live in LA so I don't know.
1) Chris Paul: Seems to be a nice guy, family man but also downright nasty on the court. He will literally do anything to win and is a dirty player but I love that about him. He is confident but not arrogant. Also I have been a fan of his since he was in college.
2) Matt Barnes: I feel like he is a guy who will have your back in a tough spot. Hot-headed but usually in a good way.
3) Crawford:....

Nice use of the new feature Cleepers- you certainly made the most out of the ordered list markup, lol. Where did you get Blake Griffin was ignoring fans, BTW?

CapsNClips

04/06/2014 - 12:19 AM PST

CTB MVP X1

Posts: 4443

votes: 53

Former Clipper honorable mention shouldn't even be a discussion, it's World B. Free.

cleepers

04/06/2014 - 04:01 AM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 9684

votes: 127

Thanks, David.

I've seen it myself in the few games I go to... maybe 5-10 per season, half of them in the first few rows. But I've also heard other people (STHs) talk about it.

I can totally dig what a pain in the arse fans can be... my business has me close to a lot of famous actors. It's probably not fair for me to judge Blake the same way if he's anywhere near Staples because that's his place of business, so maybe I'm being the d!ck.

But like I said, no right or wrong answers. I started this thread just for opinions - it's a stat-free zone

Some of our posters are 6,000 miles away (Hey, Silasie!) and I value their opinions too.

As for my honorable mention... who else but Shaun? He was our rookie and our great hope the year I pledged myself to the Clips. The first game I ever went to, some guy behind me in a J. Kidd Nets jersey was ragging on him because he had a bad game - we weren't even playing the Nets! Our girlfriends stopped us from kicking off.

I almost got into a fight repping Shaun... how funny is that?

I still root for him!

Silasie

04/06/2014 - 09:51 AM PST

CTB MVP X1

Posts: 2523

votes: 2

Well from 6000 miles away and having never been anywhere near the players here's my tupence.

I relate to BG the most, just seems like a really intelligent clued-in guy and I think we would share the same sense of humour. Then it would CP, stand up guy, very intelligent again, a lot of charisma. After that it would be JC, really quiet and humble and smart. I think I would get on quite well with JJ too.

As for the rest of the team. I can only cope with 4 friends at once

Icecoldclipper

04/06/2014 - 02:03 PM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 9570

votes: 21

The banner crew (starters plus barnes and jamal) feel like Dudley would be good crew guide.

namzug

04/08/2014 - 02:00 PM PST

Clipper All-Star

Posts: 1260

Location: So Cal

votes: 12

I ranked them where I'd think they'd fall if they where part of my crew. I think it would be between those guys in that order, but I put Blake, Doc, and Jamal all at 1 because it would probably be one of them. I followed that format throughout just because I figured it works for me.

Blake- This guy seems to be good to the people he knows personally, incredible work ethic, and doesn't mind laughing at himself.

Jamal- Loyalty at its best, never says anything negative about his teammates. Still doing so much in Seattle.

DJ- I think would probably be the most fun to hang out with

Matt- The same things most of you said.

Chris- Love the work ethic and competitive fire.

Granger- He just seems like a worker, probably would be higher if he had been here longer. Love the passion he has shown with the Pacers.

Doc- I think it would be really interesting to pick his brain.

Hollins- Gives back to the community and seems really involved, probably should be higher. Considering taking my son to his camp in Pasadena.

DC- I know someone that went was coaching at Etiwanda when he went there and they said he was really good kid, based off that should be higher but there are only so many spots.

JJ- seems a bit arrogant and probably would rub me the wrong way, but I probably have a similar sense of humor.

Big Baby- don't like the complaining I've heard in the past, but who knows what he's really like.

FightOnRon

04/11/2014 - 06:41 PM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 5134

Location: The Darkside

votes: 39

FYI,STH get to go to autograph alley where after their pregame warmups, the guys come by to sign stuff. Last year the real only elusive player was CP3 who supposedly does his warmups at 3 pm so he is never out there. Blake signed everything you put in front of him.

Now that he is popular, Blake (and DJ) ducks out of AA. I was told before I went in Blake won't sign anything and won't even be on the court. When we came toddling out Blake was with DJ shooting and as soon as THEY saw fans coming down to the AA staging area,they ran off the court like their butts were on fire. Then one of the users that was in charge of us told me once in a while Blake comes back out but 9 out of 10 times,no. Collison doesn't like to hang with the fans either.

Based on my interaction with players,I would take Jamal home to dinner. Always the most personable,IMHO. Ryan is good too. Barnes,IF he comes out but he tries to come out late to the point that he is still warming up when they kick the fans out.

PS: Willie never does warmups, so I am told.

jarca

04/11/2014 - 08:04 PM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 8653

votes: 39

Blake and DJ are the only ones that are consistently social when I go to autograph alley

ClipperSean

04/11/2014 - 08:50 PM PST

Clipper All-Star

Posts: 1446

votes: 6

I Have been to a few season ticket holder events and Blake is actually always cool with the fans. He signs autographs for season ticket holders before almost every game. Chris Paul on the other hand NEVER does. Nothing against him, but may not be his thing. Blake has a very dry sense of humor and is not overly friendly or anything so I think he can seem like a dick. But from what i've heard and experienced he is pretty cool to the fans. As for the a wingman.... I think DJ would be the best... he seems like a cool character to have in the crew.

underwater

04/14/2014 - 09:30 PM PST

Clipper D-League Pickup

Posts: 19

votes: 0

I would go to war with Blake because he and DeAndre put in extra work to get better. I would want Matt to be my body guard. I would want J.J. to drive my car since he can negotiate traffic. I would want Chris Paul to come to dinner when I cook too much food. He has an appetite and can't seem to push away from the table.